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Permalink Reply by David Barish on September 30, 2016 at 5:22am

Well, in light of the trolls I get it.  The lack of a helmet is a complete non-sequitur when we are talking about crashes that should have never occurred, trucks that kill cyclists and people failing to pay attention on the road. I get that. I also know that a helmet reduces the chance of having a brain turn into scrambled eggs but cannot eliminate that risk. I have also sat through presentations where doctors are showing slides that make my lunch difficult to digest while telling me about the statistics of cases where a helmet was the difference between those scrambled eggs and a bad headache. I think there are two separate conversations and Dave has mushed them together. Helmets have nothing to do with getting into a crash unless we are arguing that the use of helmets makes people more reckless.  They have a lot to do with surviving if a crash occurs.  All this being said I agree that helmets should not be required. I have always figured that those with something to protect will likely don one voluntarily and that Darwin must have been a cyclist.

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Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on September 30, 2016 at 6:27am

I guess I had (not quite in the back of my mind) the implied suggestion by many news reports that "the cyclist was (or was not) wearing a helmet," is a cure-all for what are today deadly crashes. That  brings us back (granted, sometimes by a circuitous route) to victim blaming or assertions that streets are for cars and people who ride bikes should just go away. Tracking all these deaths makes all this stuff swim around in my brain almost constantly. These days none of this is very far below the surface.

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Permalink Reply by David Barish on September 30, 2016 at 7:00am

This is absolutely a problem with news and digital commentary on the news these days.  I have been bothered by this as well. My current thinking  is a blanket reply- A helmet would not have stopped ___________ from hitting __________ on the road at ___________ on _____. The real issue is that a motorized________ hit a bicycle that was lawfully using the roadway.  There is a certain catharsis and a certain numbing that must come with the task you have taken on logging the carnage on the roads.

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Permalink Reply by Jim Reho on October 3, 2016 at 12:01pm

To be fair, I would note that many stories about automobile collisions specify whether the people involved were wearing seat belts or not.  If victim blaming of cyclists occurs, which it does, it also occurs with regard to drivers and their passengers.  It is not limited to cyclists.  

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Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on October 3, 2016 at 1:30pm

I imagine that's the case. I don't read lots of news reports about auto collisions, except where bikes are involved. If seat belts are "good enough," I wonder why we need air bags. (That's rhetorical.) Of course, they aren't perfect, and I suppose air bags add an extra significant(?) margin of safety to the equation, so despite the fact that they blow up from time-to-time and add weight (thus increasing fuel consumption), they are likely a net win.

There is, unfortunately, no air bag equivalent for bikes. (Please, nobody post that Swedish thing!) We will have to work the other side of the equation: getting drivers to behave better.

Just thinking out loud here, but I wonder if the increased feelings of safety drivers get by all the air bags in their cars makes them feel like they can drive faster than they should.

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Permalink Reply by mike w. on October 4, 2016 at 2:49am

i can't say that added automobile safety features cause drivers to go faster, but what i can say is that lack of enforcement of speed limits (and of reckless driving in general) pretty much invites motorists to ignore the posted speed limit.

i was driving on I-55 yesterday up from the Springfield area and saw a large number of motorists driving what i call the "Illinois 70" which is 10 to 15 mph over the posted 70mph limit on the interstate. One can also witness the "Chicago 30" which seems to be 40 to 50mph on area streets.

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